Dark Destiny 1x03 Divided We Fall
by Dark Destiny 1329
Summary: Thinking Michael is just the average evil witch after power, Chris goes after him to destroy a rising threat and Bianca's cousin's murderer. Chris thinks he can handle just one minor threat, so he goes after the witch alone… [Full Summary Inside]
1. Scene One

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series  
****Season One, Episode Three  
****Divided We Fall**

**Written by: Darien (aka alternate-universe-princess) and Shan (aka charmedgrl4ever)**

**Full summary: Thinking Michael is just the average evil witch after power, Chris goes after him to destroy a rising threat as well as to eliminate Bianca's cousin's murderer. Chris thinks he can handle just one minor threat, so he goes after the witch alone… with less than perfect results. It's a race against time to find him before anything bad happens… except that it might already be too late.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Chris, Wyatt, Paige, or Bianca (or any other cannon characters we forgot to mention). We do, however, own Prue, Parker, Paris, Abby, Devon, Jenna, and Talia (and any other original characters we forgot to mention) and would appreciate it if you didn't steal our characters without (A) asking our permission and (B) giving us the credit for them.**

Thank you!

* * *

_Opening Song: Wondering Where The Lions Are - Bruce Cockburn _

**Scene One**

It had been a demon light week and Wyatt had been taking advantage of it. So far, he'd had at least five training sessions with Talia during the week. He'd also been helping Jenna learn to use her powers whenever he could. Chris had been busy with demon hunting, as usual, so Wyatt had offered to help train Jenna. Normally, he would have been annoyed at Chris's obsessive demon hunting forcing every other issue to take a back seat, but this time Chris at least had a reason for going demon crazy. It had been pretty shocking to see Bianca crying like that, and it had been equally disturbing to know that there was a demon out there that could take out a full-fledged Phoenix assassin alone.

Currently, Wyatt was in the basement training room with Talia, trying to get her to activate her powers for what seemed to be the thousandth time. So far, she'd only been able to trigger them once… by accident, and she'd turned into a panther. After that session, they'd both been smart enough to know that it was safer for everyone involved if she stood in a crystal cage until she could learn how to not only activate her powers but deactivate them.

The training room was pretty basic. It was a large room with plenty of space to move around. It took up about half of the space in the basement. There was a small window that opened onto the side yard and a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The walls were unfinished cement. There had never been much point in doing much with the room since, rather obviously, it was used for magical training; and a lot times during training things tended to get smashed, broken, or blown up.

"Okay...just close your eyes and try again. Focus on your powers, on what triggered them before," said Wyatt. He was sitting on the edge of the only piece of furniture in the room, a long, narrow table that ran almost the entire length of the room. The table held a few items, crystals, a few jars of herbs and other random bits and pieces but, like the rest of the room, it was pretty bare.

Wyatt picked up a spare crystal from the table and started throwing it from one hand to the other. His long, lean legs swung back and forth, feet banging against the back wall. It was obvious he was getting bored, but he didn't say so aloud.

"Okay..." Talia drew out a long breath and closed her eyes. She tried to concentrate on her powers, but she kept getting distracted. She could hear a soft, dull whine emitting from the light bulb above her, Wyatt's feet nosily banging into the wall, and the sound of her own breathing. After about three seconds, it started to drive her crazy.

"Okay, all this is accomplishing is me losing my sanity," Talia whined, her eyes snapping open.

With a sigh, Wyatt hopped down off of the table and stood at the opposite end of the room from Talia. "You said the first time you used your powers was because you were afraid, right? Because you felt you had to protect Jenna, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I figure this might work. We're going to try something else. Close your eyes again."'

"And that's different, how?" asked Talia, hands on her hips.

Wyatt grinned. "Just trust me, okay. Now close your eyes."

"Fine," Talia sighed. Again, she closed her eyes.

"You can look now," said a voice that distinctly wasn't Wyatt's. It was much deeper, more menacing.

Hesitantly, Talia opened her eyes.

It was no longer Wyatt that stood before her. Now, there was one of those...things - a demon standing before her. It was tall, broad shouldered and black all over with a big, green stripe across its face. Aside from the odd skin coloration and the pitch-black eyes, it had a mostly human form. "Come and get me," it taunted, smiling with one too many rows of tiny and sharp pointed teeth.

Talia growled and got down on all fours - completely unaware of the fact that the demon was really just Wyatt in disguise. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again she had changed forms. She was an animal once more- a panther, to be exact. She growled and charged forward, forgetting all about the crystal cage that surrounded her. A slight charge crackled through the air and Talia dropped like a stone. Confused, she sat up and rubbed a paw at her nose.

Wyatt laughed. "Now, see, next time, just try and trigger that emotion and I won't have to-"

He was cut short as the door opened and Jenna stepped into the room.

Talia again forgetting she couldn't speak human in this form, spun to face her sister and growled.

Jenna, thinking Talia had been captured by another demon, panicked.

Outside, lightning struck in the middle of the street. Thunder shortly followed. In the basement, hail started to fall- small and round at first, but then larger and larger. After a few seconds, the hail became so large that they started denting the table. Jenna put her hands to her temples, trying in vain to get rid of the pounding headache that was building there. Everything hurt. And the hail continued to fall, smacking roughly against her arms and legs.

"Damn it," Wyatt cursed, changing back to his own appearance. Instantly, he summoned his forcefield and expanded it to fit the whole room.

With a small growl, Talia changed back into her human form. There wasn't much else she could do; she was still stuck inside the crystal cage. Not that she minded that much just right at that exact second, the crystals formed a barrier between her and the now heavily pounding hail. Even so, she couldn't help but raise her arms above her head to protect herself. "Jenna..." she whispered, biting her lower lip as she saw her sister start to shake and twitch. Talia hated being so powerless to help her.

"Jenna!" Wyatt shouted, hoping to snap her out of it. "You have to stop this!"

Upon seeing the demon transform into Wyatt, Jenna's eyes widened and then snapped shut. Wyatt flicked his wrist to move one of the crystals and orbed to catch Jenna. Talia, figuring Wyatt would never make it in time, leapt forward, hoping to catch Jenna before she hit the ground.

They were both a second too late and she crashed to the ground in a heap.

Talia knelt down next to her sister. "He was just trying to help me train, silly," she sighed. She ran a hand over Jenna's hair and looked up at Wyatt. "She'll be okay, won't she?"

"Yeah," Wyatt nodded. "I think she just overused her powers a bit, that's all."

He knelt down next to Talia. "You don't mind if I carry her upstairs, do you? Or do you want to try to?"

"Nah," Talia shrugged. "It's probably easier if you do it."

Wyatt couldn't quite hide his smile as he carefully picked Jenna up, her head lolling back against his shoulder. "I guess, well, we can probably just put her in my room for now," he said awkwardly. Carefully, and very slowly, he got to his feet and made his way upstairs.

Smiling and shaking her head, Talia followed She couldn't help but think, _Jenna will totally freak when she finds out what happened. _She knew her sister had a bit of a crush on the handsome blond witchlighter. And who could blame her? He was cute, sweet, and totally Jenna's type what with the big muscles, blond hair and blue eyes and all.

* * *

In a dorm room across town, an alarm began going off and slowly a slender, pale hand reached over and smacked aimlessly at it. Even so, it continued to go off, breaking the silence of the room with it's loud electronic screeching. Parker pulled herself out from under the covers and glared at the alarm clock with malice. She squinted her eyes and grumbled, "clock", raising her hand at the cursed object. The alarm clock disappeared in a flurry of orbs to re-appear a second later only to fly into the wall across the room. It fell to the ground with a crash before finally stopping it's incessant screeching. "Ha," Parker smiled, sitting up. 

She ran her fingers through her sleep-mussed hair and walked to the small vanity in her dorm room. Quickly, she put her hair up and dressed before grabbing her books. Since it was Saturday, there were no classes; and at the moment there were no demonic crises. She figured she would get some studying in. Yawning, she grabbed her keys, locked the door and left.

* * *

_TBC..._


	2. Scene Two

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series  
****Season One, Episode Three  
****Divided We Fall**

**

* * *

**

**Scene Two **

"Where is he?" Chris hissed sharply, eyes narrowed and hand outstretched. His fingers curved as if holding tightly to a round object, and the demon a few feet in front of him clutched uselessly at his neck, attempting to open his sealed throat and take in some much-needed air.

"P-please," the demon gasped fearfully.

"A demon with manners," Chris sneered, tightening his hold and toying with the demon. "Who would have thought?" He opened his hand only slightly, making sure the demon still couldn't breathe properly but enough so that he wouldn't pass out before the questioning was over. "I'll give you one last chance, demon. _Where is the demon that killed Nicholas?_"

"I don't know!" the demon wailed, knowing exactly what was coming next. Hating to disappoint, Chris slowly closed his fist completely. From within his body, the demon's heart exploded; and he let out a shriek of agony as his insides spontaneously combusted.

"Damn it!" snapped the enraged witchlighter. "Why doesn't anyone know?"

"I know," countered a voice from the shadows, and Chris whirled around to face the source of the sound.

"Who are you?" he asked warily.

"I'm someone who can tell you what you want to know. That demon that attacked the Phoenix – I know where his lair is."

Chris stiffened suspiciously. How had this demon known about Nicholas? Sure, the Phoenix clan was well-known; but they tended to keep deaths quiet, not wanting their reputation to be spoiled. And, of course, there was the fact that he was an infamous witchlighter that every demon knew to either run from or attack on the spot. "Why would you want to help me?" he demanded icily.

Evading the question, the demon replied, "Do you want know where he is or not? I can't guarantee that he'll remain in one place for long." This challenge had Chris immediately ready to orb; though he didn't trust a demon for anything, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to get justice for Bianca's cousin's murder. "I'll follow," he said sharply, motioning for the demon to show him the way.

The demon shimmered out of the empty, gaping cavern; and Chris vanished in a torrent of orbs that lit up the dim room. When the orbs faded, a man clad in black stepped out of the shadows, a malicious smirk adorning his features. "Well done," he hissed in satisfaction to the demon who had just led Chris right where he wanted him.

* * *

"Yes, mom, I know," Parker sighed into her cell phone as she swerved out of the way of a random student on a bike. She was walking across the main lawn, heading towards the cafeteria for lunch, and talking on the phone to her mother. She loved her mom, really she did, but sometimes she drove her just a little bit crazy. 

"Yes, I have plenty of money... No, I haven't been spending it all on coffee..." that wasn't exactly true, but her mother didn't need to know that, now did she? "It's Saturday, so I'm spending the day studying... Yeah, I know, I'm going out later, don't worry about me so much, mom."

Up ahead, she could see a girl from one of her classes – sociology – in a very heated argument with another student. Parker couldn't help but laugh. That girl was always getting into arguments with somebody. She even argued with the professor on occasion. But it wasn't that the girl was rude - just very passionate about important issues. Parker had spoken with her a few times; she was nice.

"No, I wasn't laughing at you, just this girl up ahead. She's arguing with this guy, and it's kind of funny... No, mom, I'm not dating anyone right now..." Parker sighed, her mom always found a way to work this into the conversation. Mostly, it was just to bug her - and mostly, it did just that. "Wait, Paris told you about that? ... Well, I had to use memory dust on him. I had to!" Now her mother was laughing at her, and mentioning something about once having made a friend's body elastic in an attempt to 'stretch his imagination' so he'd be able to accept that she was a witch.

"You've told me that story a million times, Mom," Parker sighed into the phone.

As Parker watched the scene ahead of her play out, she saw the girl from class – Abby, she was pretty sure her name was – waving her hands around excitedly. The guy she was arguing with seemed just as passionate about whatever they were debating. Then, Abby scowled and all of a sudden summoned a crossbow. A darklighter's crossbow. The boy Abby had been arguing with started backing away slowly, obviously scared and confused.

Parker's jaw dropped to the floor and her cell phone nearly went with it. "Uh... Mom, I'm gonna have to call you back..." Parker fumbled to close her phone and walked a few steps closer - not that either Abby or the boy noticed.

"Uhh... Uhh..." Abby stammered, still holding the large, black crossbow. "I'm sorry!" Strangely, she seemed just as shocked as anyone else that she'd magically summoned the weapon. She squeaked, dropping the crossbow and raising her hands into the air.

The guy looked at her, his face contorted in confusion. "Freak!" he yelled before turning around and running away as fast as he could.

"I'm sorry!" Abby yelled back. "I..." her bottom lip started to quiver and tears began tracking their way down her cheeks.

People were starting to stare.

So Abby did the only thing she could think to do. She ran.

And Parker ran after her.

"Abby!" she called out. "Wait up!"

Abby kept running.

"Abby!" Parker called out again, panting. She was really wishing she was a faster runner. Or more in shape.

As Parker slowed down, Abby merely sped up, running in between two of the campus buildings and out of sight.

"Damn it," Parker cursed. She ran ahead enough so that she was standing in between the two buildings and no one would see her and orbed in front of her bewildered classmate.

Abby screamed.

"I'm not..." Parker panted, still trying to catch her breath, "going to hurt you... I want... to help you."

"H-help me!" Abby squeaked, panicked. "Help me? I just... I just... summoned a crossbow, a crossbow for crying out loud, and you just... you just... whatever the hell you just did! I so don't need this right now, not right now..." Almost protectively, she wrapped her arms around her waist.

"Uh... uh..." Parker stuttered, an idea forming in her mind. "Wait a second... you're not..."

Abby frowned at Parker, her forehead wrinkling, eyebrows knitting together. "No! I'm not. I swear."

"Well, seeing as you... oh, god, it makes perfect sense. You're pregnant, aren't you?"

Abby backed away. "How... how did you know that? I haven't told anyone. And this hoodie is really big, I picked it for just that reason. I know you can't tell just by looking..." She backed away another couple of steps, terrified. "How did you know that?"

Parker sighed. So much for having a day free from magical disasters. "This... is going to take some explaining. Come with me; I can help you." Slowly, she held her hand out to Abby.

Again, Abby backed away. "You expect me to go anywhere with you? No way. How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"You don't," Parker said simply. "But what other choice have you got right now? You want to figure this out, don't you? Well, I can help you with that. If you'll let me."

"Okay..." Abby stepped a little closer. "But you have to tell me where we're going first."

"Of course," said Parker. She took Abby by the hand and started leading her back the way they'd come - back towards the dorms. "We're going to my brother's dorm."

"Wait, your brother?" Abby nearly laughed. "Isn't your brother Paris? I mean, I admit, I was awfully drunk that night – ironic, really. The first night I ever got drunk in my life and then this happens, but it wasn't him; I know that much at least." They were back out on the lawn now, heading towards the building to the left.

Parker stopped. "What?"

"This," Abby waved a hand at her stomach to make her point, even if she didn't yet look very pregnant. "It was an accident. I got drunk one night, my friend's idea; and I met a guy. Devon something or other – I never even got his last name... like I said, I was really drunk... So, we ended up... well, you get the point. And then I found out that I was... you know... but it wasn't your brother, even if he does have a reputation for having one night stands with anything in a skirt."

Parker laughed then. "Oh, no, that's not what I meant at all. My brother's a sleaze when it comes to girls, sure; but he's still generally a pretty good guy. Besides, I already knew it wasn't him. We're just going to his dorm to get him to help us."

"Oh, okay." Abby blushed, clearly embarrassed. Then, something occurred to her. "Wait, how did you know it wasn't him?"

_Because my brother can't conjure up a darklighter crossbow_, the witchlighter thought grimly. Aloud, she said, "I'll explain soon. Come on." She dragged the girl the rest of the way to Paris dorm room.

* * *

"So, if you had a business card it'd pretty much read Wyatt Halliwell: guardian angel and knight-in-shining-armour, huh?" Talia said and laughed as Wyatt carefully lowered Jenna down onto his bed. 

Wyatt looked over at Talia and laughed, somewhat embarrassed. He crossed the room to sit on the window seat. Talia sat down on the edge of the bed, not far from Jenna.

"Would you believe that I actually have the ancient sword Excalibur in my attic?"

Thinking he was joking, Talia laughed. "Right."

"No, he really does have the ancient sword of King Arthur in the attic. I thought it was a joke at first, too," said an unfamiliar female voice from the doorway.

Talia turned to look at who it was and saw a tall, tan brunette leaning up against the doorframe. "Hi, who're you?" Talia asked, slightly, confused.

"Oh, right, hi. Bianca Walsch. Actually, I live here too; I've just been kind of busy this past week. I think I saw your sister before, but I don't think we've met." Bianca smiled, but Talia could tell there was something Bianca wasn't telling her. Wait...she wasn't Wyatt's girlfriend was she? Talia hated to think it, but Jenna didn't stand a chance against a girl like that. _Especially_ a girl like that, dressed like that. Bianca was wearing a navy blue halter top and well-fitting, low-cut dark jeans. Her make-up looked professionally done and her hair looked freshly styled and cut. Jenna, on the other hand, wasn't wearing any makeup, had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing faded jeans and an old t-shirt.

Almost as if he could tell what Talia was thinking, Wyatt blurted out, "She's Chris's fiancée."

"Oh," said Talia, grinning more than she probably should have.

"Speaking of which," said Bianca, "have either of you seen Chris anywhere?"

"Well..." Wyatt paused for a moment, thinking. "He was up in the attic this morning. He's probably still up there now."

Bianca sighed. "Sometimes, I worry about that boy."

"Yeah, well, it's not exactly like this is unusual behaviour for him," Wyatt replied with a shrug.

"Yeah, I know, just..." Bianca sighed again. "I just hate it when he does this."

Confused, Talia spoke up. "When he does what?"

"Whenever there's a problem, he tends to try to handle it himself. He never tells anyone where he's going or what he's doing." Again, Bianca sighed and smiled. "It tends to drive me a little crazy at times."

"Yeah," said Wyatt with a laugh. "He does have a bit of a hero complex."

"A bit?" Bianca scoffed. "Try: he practically invented it. But I'll go see if he's upstairs. It was nice to meet you -" Bianca stopped short, realizing that she hadn't been told the girl's name.

"Talia. And that's my sister, Jenna." Talia pointed over at Jenna, who was still asleep on the bed. "We're Chris and Wyatt's new...what was it called again?"

"Charges," Wyatt answered.

"Right."

"Well, it was nice to meet you, Talia," said Bianca before she turned and walked up the stairs to the attic.

Silence fell upon the room then, Talia watching Jenna and waiting for her to wake up and Wyatt pretending he wasn't doing the exact same thing.

Upstairs, Bianca found herself in an equally silent, not to mention empty, attic.

It didn't take her long to spot the open Book of Shadows and put two and two together. Not two minutes later she'd pulled out the amethyst crystal, the map of the city and the Underworld, and had pinpointed Chris' location. She didn't bother to put the map away or go and tell Wyatt that Chris had gone off demon hunting in the Underworld alone again before she shimmered down there after him.

Several minutes passed and Wyatt was starting to get anxious. Bianca hadn't come back downstairs and that meant one of two things - either she was just upstairs, researching with Chris or Chris had gone off demon hunting and Bianca had gone off after him. Knowing them, it was most likely the latter and he couldn't help but worry about them. Bianca had said that Chris had a tendency to try and handle things on his own and not tell anyone where he was going, but she tended to do the exact same thing.

Quickly, he tried to sense for Chris. When he realized he couldn't find him anywhere, he sighed.

"Something wrong?" Talia asked, inadvertently yawning. She couldn't help it, sitting here and watching Jenna sleep was making her sleepy, too

"Just..." Wyatt started, biting his bottom lip and then letting out a long breath, "I can't sense Chris anywhere. Or Bianca. I think they might've gone off demon hunting."

"Well, they're both really powerful, right? So why's it such a big deal?"

Wyatt sighed, running a hand through his hair. "It's not so much that they've gone as why they've gone."

"Well..." said Talia, "Why'd they go?"

"Last week, the same day you got your powers, actually, Bianca's cousin Nicholas was killed. She was pretty torn up about it, of course. She still is, even if it may not have looked like it. And, of course," Wyatt couldn't quite keep the bitter inflection out of his tone with his next words, "Chris didn't tell me about it until two days later. And, as usual, he's decided it's his responsibility to single-handedly find out and vanquish whoever killed Nicholas."

"Oh," said Talia softly. What else was there to say to something like that?

Suddenly, Wyatt groaned, raising both hands to his head. "No..." he groaned. "No..." He squeezed his eyes shut against the light and held his head down. He brought his knees up to his chin, curling up as small as he could, like he was trying to escape from the world.

"Wyatt?" Talia jumped off the bed and walked slowly over to him. He let out a yelp and shook his head, panting hard now - he didn't seem to hear her, or anything, for that matter. "No..." he whispered, voice hoarse.

"Wyatt?" Talia crouched down in front of him. "What's wrong?" She wanted to comfort him somehow, but it seemed wrong, like he didn't want to comforted right now.

Wyatt's head rolled back, smacking against the window behind him. His eyes were still shut tight and his face was contorted in pain.

Now Talia was starting to get nervous. "Wyatt! What's going on?" Was he being attacked by a...what was it...a...demon? An invisible one maybe? She wanted to help, but she had no idea how.

The room was silent for a moment, before Wyatt whispered, "Chris."

"What?" Talia asked, confused. Did this have something to do with the younger, and notably much more neurotic, witchlighter? Was something happening to him? To both of them?

Finally, Wyatt opened his eyes, and taking a deep breath, he calmed himself. "Sorry," he shook his head. "I didn't mean to scare you..."

"No, it's okay," now Talia shook her head, confused, "but what's going on?"

"I don't know if this was explained to you or not but whitelighters have a connection to their charges, and to their family, it's like...well, it's hard to explain. The best way I can put it is to say that you can just sense them, wherever they are, that sort of thing. And if someone a whitelighter has a connection to is in pain, they can feel it. Just like I just did. Something's happened to Chris. I can feel it. We have to go and find him, now."

"Oh...well, of course," said Talia, still somewhat confused. _When someone else gets hurt...he feels it...s_he shuddered at the idea, thankful she didn't have that power.

"I'm just going to go and scry for them. Tell me when Jenna wakes up, would you?"

Wyatt looked over at Jenna for a second before getting up and heading to the attic.

"Sure," Talia said and nodded, not really knowing what 'scrying' was.

As if on cue, the moment Wyatt left the room, Jenna's eyes fluttered against the bright light. She groaned, reminding Talia of their mother trying in vein to wake her two daughters up for school every morning. Jenna had always loved school, but even _she_ refused to truly get out of bed until well past ten if she could avoid it. She'd gotten better since then, but Talia would never forget it – or stop teasing her about it either.

"W-what happened?" Jenna murmured, rubbing her eyes and sitting up on the bed. _Where am I? Why am I here?_

Dryly, Talia quipped, "You destroyed the Halliwell's basement; that's what happened."

Sharply, Jenna's memories came flying back to her, bombarding her like questions from a reporter. She clutched her head in agony as it began to throb with a burning vengeance. "Oh no," she managed to cry in despair. "I can't believe I killed their house before I was even here a week! And it's been in their family for centuries!"

"We'll think about that later," Talia replied, somewhat nervous about that despite how indifferent she sounded. She really hoped that she and Jenna didn't wreak too much havoc with their powers. However, she reasoned, Wyatt and the rest had to have lost control of their powers at some point, too, right? When they were younger if not now? With all those powers inside these witches and whitelighters, they _must_ have done more than their share of damage to the house. Hopefully, what little damage Jenna had done was reversible.

Before she explained, she was dragging her older sister off of Wyatt's bed and out the door. "We need to help Wyatt find Chris and Bianca."

"Why?" Jenna demanded nervously. She really hoped her new whitelighter – that _was_ what it was called, right? – wasn't in trouble. "Where's Chris? And who's Bianca?"

"If we _knew_ that," Talia retorted, conveniently ignoring the second question, "then Wyatt wouldn't need help looking, would he?" Not giving Jenna a chance to protest – not that the older girl _would_ anyway – Talia steered her sister up the stairs and into the attic.

To their confusion they found Wyatt bent over a map of San Francisco, a beautiful, amethyst necklace dangling from his curled fingers. He swung it over the map like a hypnotist's pendant and watched it carefully for signs of… _What?_ both sisters wondered simultaneously.

"Uh… Wyatt, what are you doing?" Talia asked in bewilderment.

Wyatt glanced up for only the briefest moment before replying, "Scrying." His next words directed at the older witch, he asked, "How are you feeling?"

Blushing, Jenna mumbled, "Fine. Sorry about… what I did downstairs."

Grinning politely, though not looking up again, Wyatt brushed off her apology. "The training room gets demolished all the time. Although hail was an interesting way to do it, it was hardly the most destructive power we've had in that room. Don't worry about it."

Jenna let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she'd been holding and offered her assistance. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She crossed the room to get a closer look at the map. Upon inspection, she realized there was more to it than San Francisco. Another part she didn't recognize was sketched in, too.

"Sorry," he sighed. "I don't think so." Catching her quizzical expression, he motioned toward the map, "It's a mix of San Francisco and the Underworld."

"The… Underworld?" Talia questioned, almost laughing. "Like – where Hades lives?"

A smirk tugged at Wyatt's lips. "Not quite, but you're on the right —" Suddenly, the necklace put on a burst of speed and swung wildly from his fingers before slipping from his grasp, clattering onto the map.

Squinting his eyes, Wyatt leaned over to check where it had fallen. "They're at the Arboretum," he said, and Jenna wondered how in the world the necklace would know that. "Come on, we have to go." As much as he didn't want to take two neophytes into what could potentially be a huge battle, he knew it was far too dangerous to leave them here alone with no one to protect them.

"To the Arboretum?" Talia asked sceptically. "Why – because that's where the necklace just happened to fall?"

"Not exactly," Wyatt corrected impatiently. He _really _didn't have time for them to question him; Chris and Bianca could be in trouble. "It's not a necklace; it's a crystal. It locates witches or demons or people with powers basically. Amethyst gives it the extra power boost." He dangled the crystal in front of their faces as he explained. "As much as I think it's important for you to learn all this stuff," he continued, letting the crystal fall back onto the table loudly, "now is probably _not_ the best time."

Before the girls could protest, he reached over to grab each of their hands and orbed out of the manor.

* * *

Parker knocked loudly on Paris's door. 

No answer.

Again, she knocked, hoping he wasn't otherwise involved. _It's the middle of the day, he can't possibly..._

However, she didn't get to finish that thought as the door swung open, Paris standing in the doorway with his iPod in his hand and earphones still in his ears.

_Oh, so that's why he didn't hear me knocking..._thought Parker as she barged into the room.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the normally dead-looking potted plant that sat on the windowsill in the room suddenly perk up, its leaves spreading out almost as if it were reaching towards the sunlight. But she'd deal with that later. The possible threat of a darklighter attacking was more important than the possible threat of a plant suddenly coming to life.

"Uh, hello? So, what, you dislike me having girls in my room and yet you bring one here?" Paris wrapped his earphones around his iPod and put it down on his desk before folding his arms across his chest and glaring at his twin sister. Sometimes, she really made no sense at all.

Parker had barely gotten out the words, "This is Abby, she needs our help," when a darklighter black-orbed into the room.

The weird part was, he didn't look like a darklighter, not really. Most darklighters were tall, with dark hair and dressed all in black. But this one was different. He was tall and well built, like most darklighters, but his hair was long and dirty blond, and he was wearing jeans and an old leather jacket. If he hadn't black-orbed in, he almost could have passed for a student. Almost.

"Hello, Abby, did you miss me?" He smiled. It was almost a kind smile, almost. But there was something inherently malicious about him that made everything he did seem, somehow... off.

"Devon! You... you... you! Like her! You... you..." Abby stuttered. Obviously, she was having trouble adjusting to the fact that the man she'd slept with once had somehow magically found her. Instinctively, she backed away. The darklighter only advanced. She tried to back away further, but the dorm room being rather small, she quickly ran out of space and was soon backed against the wall.

"Hey!" Paris shouted, getting the darklighter's attention. "Get away from her!" He summoned an energy bolt to his hand, letting it run up and down his fingers, ready for action.

"Whitelighters?" The darklighter spun to face Abby once more and sneered. "Don't think they can protect you for long. I'll be back, and don't think I won't take what's mine." With that said, he black-orbed away.

Abby whimpered and put her hands protectively around her stomach. She sank to the floor, tears forming in her eyes.

"Okay, just what the hell is going on?" Paris demanded, finally letting go of the electric bolts circling around his fingers. Parker was silent. "Parker? What's going on?" he asked again.

"Well, obviously, that darklighter impregnated her and now he's after her so we have to help her." Parker spoke very matter-of-factly, as if such information should have been a no-brainer.

"And why is this our problem?" Paris groaned.

"Paris!" Parker reprimanded. "She's an innocent! That makes it our problem."

"But... I have midterms soon, and..." Paris trailed off, waving a hand lazily at a stack of books on the bed that had clearly never been opened.

"Studying? Come on, Paris. Like you ever study. Try and come up with a better excuse next time, would you?"

"Uh... excuse me..." Abby picked herself up from off of the floor. She walked over to the messy bed, and sat down on top of it. "That's great and all, really, but could someone please explain to me what's going on?" It was obvious she was starting to lose her patience. Understandably so, of course. In the course of one morning she'd somehow summoned a crossbow into existence without meaning to, she'd seen the guy she'd had a one night stand with magically appear before her and she'd seen a guy she'd always thought was just a lecherous college boy, create electricity in his hand. She had good reason to be freaked out.

"Oh, right," Parker rolled her eyes skyward for a second, then smiled. She walked over to Abby and sat next to her. She picked two textbooks and a couple of random comics off of the bed and threw them haphazardly to the floor. She stopped herself from yelling at her brother about having such a messy room and looked over at Abby. "I'm guessing, considering your general reaction to things, that you don't believe in magic, right?"

Even having seen what she'd just seen, Abby looked over at Parker like she was crazy. "Of course I don't!"

"Well, hate to burst your bubble and all, but magic does exist," said Paris. He leaned casually against the bookcase on the opposite wall.

"What? No way. That's... no, there's no way," Abby made to get up and walk out the door and leave, but Parker put a hand on her arm to stop her.

"No, my less than tactful brother is right," Parker paused to glare at her brother, "he's telling the truth. Think about it. Think about what you've seen today. What other way is there to explain it?"

"I'm crazy. I must be. Or I'm dreaming. Or I'm crazy. I'm probably crazy. I should go and get help," said Abby. Shakily, she bobbed her head up and down, almost as if she was agreeing with herself. Again, she made to leave and again, Parker held her still.

"Abby, has anything... strange ever happened to you? Have things you couldn't explain ever occured around you?" asked Paris.

Parker looked over at him. "What? She's not a witch."

"And how do you know?" Paris shot back. "Maybe she is and doesn't know it. Lots of witches don't ever find out about their powers. And darklighters like having half-breed kids so that they become more powerful."

"A... a... what? No. No way. You know what, maybe it's just you people that are crazy. Excuse me. I've got things to do." Abby got up to leave again and this time Parker didn't try to stop her.

But Paris did.

As soon as Abby's hand was on the doorknob, Paris orbed out. Abby opened the door to find Paris standing in the doorway in front of her. As a response, she screamed. "How-how-how did you do that?" she stuttered, stumbling backwards and falling flat on her butt.

"I told you," said Paris. "Magic."

"Now are you willing to believe us?" asked Parker.

Abby continued to inch backwards, away from Paris. In her panicked state she didn't realize she was only backing herself into a corner.

Paris extended his hand out to help her up but she only squealed in terror. Suddenly, at the back of the room, something shattered. Parker turned to look at what it might have been when she noticed the plant on the windowsill at the back of the room was growing at an exponential rate. It had been the tiny ceramic pot holding the plant that had broken and it now lay in pieces on the floor.

The plant continued to grow, it's large vines zooming past Parker and heading straight for Paris. Abby scooted back even further on the carpet, her arms wrapped around herself and her knees tucked up; her whole body seemed to shrink.

Paris's eyes widened to almost comical proportions as the plant scooped him up and dragged him inside the room. The plant wrapped one of it's vines around the doorknob and slammed the door shut. The plant dropped Paris on the floor just in front of Abby. The plant had stopped growing by now, but the leaves and vines seemed to be taking up almost the entire room. Slowly, the plant started wrapping itself around Paris's legs, then his stomach, then his chest and his arms. He started to cough and sputter. He wriggled and jerked about, wanting to raise his hands to his throat, but unable to. The vines were squeezing him as if the plant was an anaconda. "See? I told you she was a witch," he choked out.

Parker looked over at her brother and made an exasperated face. This was _so _not the time for making jokes. "Abby!" she got down on the floor next to the girl. "Abby! You're hurting him! Please, stop! Please! Abby!"

But Abby couldn't hear her. It would seem she couldn't hear anybody. She only stared blankly at Paris as his face started to turn blue.

* * *

After shimmering from place to place, Bianca finally sensed Chris at the Arboretum - specifically, an enclosed space with bushes blocking anyone's view. With a sigh of relief, she shimmered to his side, preparing a whole lecture in her head to reel off at him once she re-materialized. 

"Chris, what the hell do you think you're doing, going off like that without telling anyone?" she demanded before she had even fully formed. "You could have been killed, and no one would have known it."

"Damn it," he muttered, either not hearing her words or merely choosing to ignore her. Bianca had a pretty good idea it wasn't the first option. He probably hadn't even noticed her arrival. "I _knew_ that bastard would set me up."

Curiosity won her over, and Bianca questioned, "Who set you up?"

"That demon!" Chris exclaimed as if that clarified everything when, in fact, it explained absolutely nothing at all. "I was looking for the demon that attacked Nicholas"— Bianca suppressed the urge to wince at the sound of her cousin's name—"and this one demon told me he knew where to find him. I was supposed to find him _here_, but there's no one around but the two of us."

"Actually," someone stated coldly, and an all black-clad person stepped out of the shadows, giving a face to the voice. "That's not quite true." Before either half-breed could decide whether this person was a threat or not, he chanted, "'_I cast this spell to kindle strife; bring their biggest fears to life._'"

Stars danced before the witchlighter's eyes. Bianca and the spell-caster faded from his vision, leaving him utterly alone. "Bianca?" he questioned warily, not trusting his own sight at the moment. "You still here?"

He didn't see her hand waving desperately in front of his eyes, nor did he hear the echoes of her words as her voice called, "Chris, I'm right here!" Positively livid (which was just to conceal her concern), she took a menacing step toward the stranger. An energy ball fizzled into existence in the palm of her hand as she demanded, "What did you do to him?"

Instead of answering her, he snickered, "You'll be next, Phoenix. Just you wait." An energy ball incinerated a small evergreen bush just behind him before he vanished in a haze. Cursing, Bianca turned her attention back to her fiancé's wildly roving eyes. "Chris," she murmured in despair, but he didn't turn at the sound of her voice.

* * *

"Chris!" 

Chris whirled around at the furious tone and was more than astonished to find Piper standing there – hands planted firmly on her hips – accompanied by Wyatt and Bianca. Neither one looked any happier to be there than his mother did. What was his mom doing there anyway? She hadn't left Magic School even once since she moved there three years ago. Since her sister Phoebe's death, the two remaining Charmed Ones had weakened immeasurably. As a last resort, Leo had convinced them to move to the only place completely shielded from demons: Magic School. Piper – along with Leo; her sister, Paige; and Paige's husband, Henry – had left their homes and had taken up another within the walls of the school. Often, Chris and the cousins would visit them up there but never vice versa; it was too dangerous.

Why was she here now?

"What's going on?" he asked, cursing the tremor in his voice. With Piper here he suddenly felt like a scared, little kid again. He suppressed the urge to run up to her, wrap his arms around her leg, and hide behind her until all the "bad, bad demons" were taken care of.

_Pull yourself together,_ he ordered himself silently. _'Wy?'_ he called to his brother through their telepathic bond. _'What's going on?'_

The older of the two spoke aloud for the benefit of the women. "You're a danger to us all," he said remorsefully. "We can't let you continue like this."

Chris didn't understand what they meant, but he quickly got the idea when a miniature vial of thick liquid materialized in his fiancée's open hand. Quickly, he began to back away; and she watched him sorrowfully as if she possessed no choice in the matter whatsoever.

"I'm so sorry, Chris," she whispered, her voice pleading with him to understand and not to make this more difficult than it had to be.

"N-no," Chris croaked. "What are you guys doing? Y-you cant —" How could they kill him, their own flesh and blood? And Bianca – she claimed to love him enough to want to marry him. Where was that love now? Where could he go; how could he escape? He was fast, but compared to Bianca he was a snail against a falcon. Perhaps armed with an incapacitating potion he might get away unscathed, but empty handed he didn't stand a chance.

He tried to activate his powers in self defense, but he could feel them being drained from his body. He was powerless against whatever they might do. Oh god, they were going to kill him.

Displaying her feline-like grace and unbelievable precision, Bianca released the potion. It shattered at Chris's feet and its contents seemed to explode outward. Chris stumbled backwards from the sheer force of the blow, and his legs gave out beneath him. A thick, midnight-blue fog rose and – with a sense of urgency – sped right towards the prone form.

No matter what he did Chris was unable to ward off the attack. The shadows wriggled up his nose and down his throat as he coughed and spluttered, unable to breathe. His heart slowed and then suddenly began to beat frantically.

He felt hot blood gush out of his nose where there was none, and he brought his fingers up to wipe away the crimson liquid. Though his fingers came away clean, he imagined them covered in sticky blood. In his eyes, the red spread everywhere.

His lungs collapsed inward, and he slowly – oh so painfully, agonizingly slowly – suffocated to death, his eyes remaining open and glazed.

* * *

Helplessly, Bianca watched in terror as Chris fell to the floor, writhing and coughing. "Oh god, not again," she moaned, horrified. This could not be happening; Chris could _not_ do this to her – not a second time. He'd already almost died because of those darklighters last December, and she refused to go through the pain and worry and mourning as she had then. 

"Chris!" she cried, quickly kneeling to the floor beside his face. "Chris, wake up. Come on, baby, you need to open your eyes." Her fingers tenderly caressed his cheek as she continued to plead with the unconscious form.

She felt as if her greatest fear was coming to life, and she had to witness Chris's death, unable to do a thing to stop it. Groping wildly beneath his shirt, she pressed a sweating hand to his chest and – to her immense relief – found the faintest flutter of a heartbeat there.

"Okay, you're okay," she whispered, more to assure herself than anything. "Wake up, Chris; wake up, baby. Open your eyes."

As if hearing her prayer, Chris's eyes slowly fluttered and began to open. When he caught sight of Bianca leaning over him, his eyes widened. Roughly shoving her away from him, he jumped up, wincing as a sharp pain shot up his spine. "W-why'd you do it?" he stammered, backing away from her.

Taken aback at the fury and terror lacing Chris's tone, Bianca frowned at her fiancé in concern. He clamored to his feet, and she quickly stood as well, steadying herself as a wave of vertigo flashed fleetingly past her eyes. She hoped the stranger's spell didn't have any side effects on her as well. One distraught half-witch was more than enough, especially when the witch was as powerful as Chris. She _had_ to get him to calm down!

"Do what?" she demanded sharply. "Chris, what happened?"

Chris laughed bitterly, and – unable to bear the sight of his treacherous fiancée a moment longer – he tore his gaze away from her face. Of course he still loved her more than life itself, but she had betrayed him in the worst possible way. Not only had she turned back to evil and her old Phoenix ways as she had once promised not to do but she tried to kill him! He thought she loved him, and she had broken his heart.

Giving her a spiteful smile, eyes cold and distant, he croaked, "Why did you kill me?"

Feeling her stomach clench into a knot, Bianca shook her head in disbelief. What the hell had the demon done to Chris's mind? She would never hurt him, let alone try to _kill_ him.

"Chris, what are you talking about?" she questioned, her tone filled with worry and apprehension. Lifting her hand to his face, she wriggled the finger with a petite engagement ring glinting on it. "See this?" He averted his gaze, but she pressed her other hand to his cheek and forced his eyes back to the ring. "_Look_," she commanded calmly. "You gave this to me, remember? It means we're getting married – spending the rest of our lives together. It means that I love you more than anyone else ever will. I would never, _ever_ hurt you; you know that. Even some silly, little spell shouldn't take away that knowledge from you; that guy was just messing with your head."

Angrily, she spun around, an energy ball hissing to life in the palm of her hand. "Show yourself!" she snarled. "Come out and fight me, coward!" She raised the power high into the air as a challenge to the man who had attacked them.

"Well," came a sneering voice from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. "If that's what you want…" A small _crack_ echoed in the distance, and suddenly he was standing right behind Chris – the perfect position, he knew. Bianca wouldn't be able to attack without hurting Chris, too; and by the time she side stepped her fiancé, he could vanish again.

"I told you you'd be next." He grinned maliciously and waved his hand exuberantly.

"C-Chris?" she murmured in disbelief, the energy ball slowly shrinking until it was completely gone.

* * *

In Piper's bedroom on her bed, Chris lay almost lifelessly, his skin abnormally pale. Blood bubbled up from a wound in his abdomen – from a dagger if Bianca had to guess. She took a step forward to him, but he didn't notice her. Was she even really here, or was this her imagination? The man! He had attacked and— 

Her train of thought was abruptly cut off as Leo strode into the room, walking directly _through_ Bianca and kneeling before his dying son. Bianca shivered to rid herself of the strange sensation that passed through her when Leo did. So she wasn't really here… But it was still real. Somehow she knew that what she was about to witness was the truth, and dread slithered around her heart and curled in the pit of her stomach.

"Hey, I'm here now," Leo murmured to his son, trying and miserably failing to keep the despair out of his voice. "You can hold on, okay? Hold on. Hold on. I'm here, you can hold on."

Though weak, Chris found the strength to nod, eyes barely fluttering open to see his father's anguish.

"Don't give up, okay?"

Again, Chris nodded, although Bianca wasn't sure whether he was agreeing or accepting death calmly. Heart pounding painfully in her chest, she walked around Leo and reached a hand to Chris's cheek. He felt cold and clammy, so near death.

Bianca shook her head as Chris mumbled, "You either."

"Listen to Leo, Chris," she whispered tearfully. "Just hold on – _please_ hold on. Don't you dare give up on me…" Her voice cracked, and she closed her eyes until she got her tears under control. Although she knew he couldn't see her, she didn't want the tears to flow nonetheless. Once they started, she knew, she'd never be able to stop crying.

Chris's eyes fluttered shut never to open again, and his head slowly fell limply to his side as two half witches and an Elder watched helplessly.

"No, no, no," Leo implored, eyes filling with tears. "Please… no. No, please… No." As he buried his head in his son's chest, Bianca firmly grasped her fiancé's hand as if doing so would tether him to the living world. Blindly, she felt for a pulse… There was none.

* * *

After Bianca's speech Chris had been able to force his erratic breathing and pounding heart to slow. Not only did she tell him she still loved him, but he was still alive; that was a pretty big clue that she hadn't killed him. There had been potion and no death, although the agony still seemed very, very real. 

Suddenly, he heard Bianca moan, "Listen to Leo, Chris. Just hold on – _please_ hold on. Don't you dare give up on me…" Her voice trailed off, but those words were clear. What was the stranger making her go through?

"Bianca?" he called loudly, but her gaze slid right past him as she stared into space, eyes squeezed shut tight in emotional torment. He whirled around and demanded, "What did you do to…" When he realized the stranger who had attacked was nowhere to be found, his voice trailed off.

Frustrated and livid with fury, Chris gently wrapped his arms around Bianca's waist – she couldn't feel a thing – and orbed back to the manor.

* * *

_TBC..._


	3. Scene Three

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series  
****Season One, Episode Three  
****Divided We Fall**

**

* * *

**

**Scene Three**

"Abby! Abby, please! Stop this!" Parker continued to beg but it would seem it was not going to any good. The plant Abby brought to life continued to choke the life from her brother, and Abby continued to stare vacantly ahead as it happened.

Paris groaned and tried yet again to break free of the monstrous bonds. Who'd have ever thought a plant would be so dangerous? He'd never look at plants the same way again, that was for sure. With the last of his fading strength, he tried orbing out of the plant's deadly grip; but it kept him still, not allowing any movement.

Parker held back the urge to whimper; she felt absolutely helpless. She'd already tried a vanquishing spell on the plant, and she'd tried orbing Paris to safety but it was of no use. The plant continued to hold on.

Suddenly, Parker had an idea. She remembered earlier that morning her mother mentioning a spell she'd used once... what was it? To Stretch The Imagination. Right. Her mom had said it had caused her friend's body to become elastic, but she didn't care. A girl with elastic arms would be less difficult to deal with than this. If it saved her brother's life, that was all that mattered, right?

Paris's eyes began rolling back in his head; and soon his head slumped forward on his neck, no longer able to keep itself upright.

This time, Parker whimpered. She couldn't help herself. The spell... what was the spell? Her mother hadn't told it to her this morning, but she knew she'd read it once before...

The plant started to wrap itself around Paris's limp form even more tightly now, squeezing the last remnants of life from his body and suddenly the words started flowing from Parker's lips. She didn't know how she remembered them, but somehow, by some immense stroke of luck, she did.

_"Let mind and body soar,_

_to heights not reached before. _

_Let limits stretch, _

_that you may catch _

_a new truth to explore."_

Abby shook her head suddenly, as if waking up from a nap. Upon seeing Paris in front of her being attacked by a plant, she screamed and suddenly the plant disintegrated. Paris' body dropped to the floor and he curled up, coughing and sputtering.

"I... I'm so sorry..." Abby whispered. She backed up even further into the room, curling up so she was even smaller.

It occured to Parker to go and comfort the girl but it was much more important in that second to make sure her brother was alright. "Paris?" she asked as she crawled forward. She didn't bother to stand, especially not with him still curled up on the floor like he was.

He nodded his head, and sat up, taking harsh, jerky breaths. "Told... you..." he panted. Parker expected he was going to say 'told you so' but he didn't have the energy.

"You almost get killed by a plant and that's the first thing that comes to mind?" Parker asked.

"No, but I don't think you want to hear about the first thing that came to my mind," he laughed, then paused and started to cough.

Parker simply raised an eyebrow at him and shook her head."So, Abby, now do you believe us?" she turned to face the girl, but she was gone. And the window was open. At least they were on the first floor so they knew she'd only ran off, and not jumped to her death.

"Well," Paris said, "at least she believes us about magic, now."

Parker sighed, and helped him get to his feet. "Can you walk?"

"Of course," he replied, dropping her hand. He took a step forward and stumbled.

"Maybe with a little help." Parker stepped towards him and put his arm over her shoulder.

* * *

They found Abby sitting out on the lawn not far from the dorms on an old, creaky bench. "Hey," said Parker distractedly. 

Abby looked up, startled. "Oh!" She got up and tried to run again, but stopped. "I'm sorry." She looked down, her bangs shading her face.

"Well, it's not like you meant to almost kill me..." said Paris with a grin. "Right?"

"No! Of course not!" Abby squeaked.

Parker glared at Paris again, and most likely not for the last time that day. "So you believe us now?"

"I don't know how, but I guess I do. I have no other choice, right? But..does this mean that I'm evil?" Abby sighed, her voice sounding tiny and weak and tired. Parker hadn't thought about it, but this was probably just as hard on Abby as it was on them.

Paris just laughed. "Evil? No. A witch? Yes. But definitely not evil. Unless of course you did intend to kill me."

"Oh, no, not at all!" This time Abby looked Paris straight in the eye and shook her head. "Never. I... I, didn't..." she trailed off, sniffling. Her eyes clouded over with unshed tears.

"Oh, stop being a jerk already, would you?" Parker stepped away from Paris, and still being slightly weakened, he nearly fell over.

"Serves you right." Now Parker was the one that laughed.

Abby looked from Parker to Paris and back to Paris. "I really am sorry," she said.

"I know, I know. No harm, no foul, right?" said Paris. He walked slowly over to the bench and sat down. He let out a groan. "Ow."

Again, Parker laughed. But once she looked over at Abby, all nerves and awkwardness, she stopped. "Okay...so we need a plan, then..."

"Oh, right...Devon...he was evil, wasn't he?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Parker answered. "He is. But that's okay. We'll get him."

"Yeah, but how?" asked Paris.

"Well..." Parker started but paused, thinking. How _were_ they going to do this?

"Does this... does this mean..." Abby started rocking back and forth on the spot like a little kid, obviously nervous. "If he... if he's... the father... does that mean... is my child evil like him?"

Again, Parker paused. She'd almost forgotten about that. She hadn't thought much about it but, Abby was pregnant, she was going to have to have a baby and raise that baby by herself, and she was in school. Not only that, but she had to learn how to control her powers. All of a sudden, she felt really sorry for the girl. "Oh, no, honey, no, your baby won't be evil. It will be harder for him, for sure, but he won't naturally turn out that way."

"Okay," Abby nodded her head vigorously. "So I can help him, then? I can make sure he's good?"

"Of course," Parker answered, smiling kindly. "Of course."

"So, now how do we get rid of the... what's he called? And what are you two exactly?"

"He's a darklighter. And we're part whitelighters, part witches. We're called witchlighters. It's our job to help people, like you. And darklighters generally like to kill whitelighters and just generally cause trouble."

"But my baby won't...won't want to..." Abby paused, almost as if the next words were stuck on her tongue. "Kill, will he?"

Parker smiled. "Not if he grows up with a person like you for a mother."

Abby smiled a weak little smile in response and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Thanks."

"Guys," Paris finally spoke up, "I think I have a plan."

* * *

Wyatt, Jenna and Talia landed in the Arboretum, and again Talia stumbled, feeling slightly queasy. "Ugh..." she groaned, clutching her stomach. "There's got to be a better way of doing that..." 

"Well, there's shimmering, I guess. But Bianca's the only one with that power," Wyatt murmured distractedly. He scanned the area and stepped forward.

Talia nodded to Jenna and walked after Wyatt. Once they were in the clearing, she looked around. Chris and Bianca were nowhere to be found. "They aren't here," she said quietly.

"I know," said Wyatt. "They're at the Manor now."

"How do you know?" asked Jenna.

"I can sense them now. And Chris is panicked about something. We better go." After briefly checking to make sure that no one else was around, he held his hands out to both Jenna and Talia and orbed the three of them out.

Once they'd left, a tall, dark man with a camera, Macklin Munroe, stepped out from behind one of the large, stone angel statues. He'd been taking pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and of the Arboretum for a photo assignment he'd been working on. They hadn't seen him but he'd seen them. "Now what was a Whitelighter doing out here with two witches?" he wondered aloud. Putting his camera back into the large back pocket of his jeans, he shimmered to the Underworld to find out.

* * *

_TBC..._


	4. Scene Four

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series  
****Season One, Episode Three  
****Divided We Fall**

**

* * *

**

**Scene Four **

Parker peeked out of Abby's bedroom, the door only open the tiniest of cracks. Abby was outside in the common room between the four bedrooms of her four-square dorm, staring at the ceiling in boredom. "You sure this is a good idea?" Parker asked.

"Yeah, we just have to be patient. He'll show up," said Paris. He was currently lying sprawled out on the bed, his legs up against the wall, and his head hanging off the edge of the bed. He was throwing a tennis ball up into the air and catching it.

Parker turned to him and sighed. "That's not even your bed."

"So? She attacked me with a plant earlier, I think I'm entitled to lie on her bed." Paris threw the ball up, it hit the ceiling, and bounced away. He got up to retrieve it before taking up his previous position again.

They'd been waiting in Abby's dorm room for over a half an hour now with Abby out in the common room, acting as bait. They'd made sure none of her roommates were around and they'd put a chair against the door to keep any of them from entering. The plan was to have it look like she was alone, and when Devon showed up, Parker and Paris would come in and Paris would hit him with an electric bolt and vanquish him. If that didn't work, then Parker would glamour into him and use his crossbow against him. Basically, the plan was to trick him into showing up, and then attack him. With darklighters, there wasn't much else you could do.

Parker sighed and turned back to the door. Abby was still standing outside, walking in circles and staring at the ceiling. She'd been watching tv before, but she'd since grown restless and had taken to pacing the floor.

Paris threw the ball up and again it hit the ceiling and bounced away. He'd been at that for almost the entire half hour and he'd dropped the ball almost more times than he'd caught it.

Parker turned around to make a joke about his lousy catching skills, and how funny that was since he'd been on the high school baseball team throughout almost all of high school, when she heard voices speaking out in the common room.

Devon had just black-orbed in, Parker could still see orb-traces lingering in the air.

"Hello, Abby," he said almost sweetly. "So I see you've been waiting? Are your friends around?"

"No. I got rid of them," said Abby with a sneer that almost matched his. Almost.

"Good." Devon paced the room for a few moments before speaking again. "So I assume they've told you all about me?"

"Yeah. They told me you were an evil bastard. They told me you want to steal my child away from me." Now Abby stood up to her full height, which in all truthfulness wasn't very tall, and stared Devon down. He stared right back, unfazed.

He continued to pace the room. "Oh, did they?"

Now Parker was standing at the door, almost pressing herself into the open crack of the door, and Paris was right behind her. They were just waiting for the right second to strike.

"Yeah, they did. And you're not getting my child. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever," Abby answered. She tried to stay strong, tried to act tough, but there was a tiny bit of fear in her voice all the same.

"He's not yours. And he never will be. He's mine. And if I can't get you now, I'll just get him later." He glared at Abby and stared her down, almost like he was daring her to challenge him.

"Over my dead body will you ever get my child," Abby spat back. Any fear there had been in her voice was gone now. A hanging pot with trailing vines that hung in the corner above the tv seemed to come to life, the vines popping and snapping, lengthening and reaching out for Devon. Slowly, slowly, they inched towards him, marking out their territory as they went. Soon the whole room was covered in vines, the walls were engulfed in them.

"Well, I have ways of doing that, you know. I don't need you. I can get somebody else." In a split second flash of movement he charged and tackled her, ramming her into the nearest wall. His body was pressed up against hers and he grabbed her neck with both hands. She flailed and floundered against him, but it was no use - her body was much smaller than his. Devon's hands started to glow a dark, dark purple - the same color of dark orbs. The vines slowly shrunk back to the pot and disappeared.

Parker and Paris charged in.

"Hey, creep! Let her go," Paris commanded. This time he didn't bother playing around. He threw an energy bolt straight at the darklighter.

It struck Devon's shoulder and surged through his body, causing him to shake just enough for him to lose his grip on Abby. Quickly, she slipped away from him and fled to the relative safety of the other side of the room.

Just as they'd expected, Devon spun to face Parker and Paris and summoned a crossbow. Before he'd had the chance to fire Parker had glamoured so she looked just like him and fired first.

The arrow sailed straight towards him, and it looked like it was going to hit it's mark when he reached out and plucked it from the air as easily as if it had been a feather floating on a breeze.

He snapped the arrow in half and grinned. "What, you thought that would stop me? Nice try."

He raised his bow and fired it at Parker, but she simply orbed out of the way, causing the arrow to land in the wall instead. She orbed back into the same spot a split-second later.

Devon charged forward and put a hand broadly over Parker's face, his hand glowing that same evil dark purple. Parker's skin turned that same shade of sickly purple and she started to choke, but before Devon could finish poisoning her Paris charged at him, tackling him to the ground.

Devon grabbed one of Paris' arms and threw him back as far as he could. Paris hit the back wall with a crunch and lay in a heap on the floor.

Parker was still lying on the floor coughing. That only left Abby.

Devon smiled, and started walking slowly towards her.

"Get away from me!" she screamed. "Get away!" she looked over at the hanging plant as if expecting it to jump up and come to her aid. But it stayed still, not even a breeze rustled through its leaves.

Devon came closer and closer and Abby put her hands up in front of her face, terrified. She bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming.

Devon reached out, hand glowing that sickly, evil purple, and smiled. Abby screamed. His hand touched her face and suddenly she black-orbed out. She landed behind him and before he had the chance to notice, she summoned all of her courage, all of her anger. She summoned a crossbow, like she'd done earlier that morning and this time it was her turn to smile. She aimed it at Devon's back and fired. This time the arrow hit its mark, embedding itself deep into Devon's neck.

He spun around to face her, a tortured look in his eyes, and exploded into flames. Abby shrieked and jumped back, momentarily shocked. The crossbow disappeared.

Behind her, Paris laughed. "Yeah, it takes a while to get used to them doing that. But hey, at least there's no messy clean up, right?"

"Yeah, uh, I guess so," Abby responded shakily.

"Nice work, by the way," said Parker. She rubbed her hand over her throat, and growled a bit. "Damn that hurts. I'm glad they don't use that trick often."

"Yeah, 'cause those fatally poisonous arrows they seem to like so much are so much better," Paris replied.

"Oh, whatever," Parker shrugged. "At least it's over now, right?"

"Yeah. I guess so," said Abby. She looked...nervous, somehow.

"Hey, what's wrong? You look slightly less than enthused here," said Parker. She led Abby over to the couch.

"It's just... I killed a man. I summoned a crossbow, and I killed a man." Abby hung her head and sighed. "That's not a good thing, is it?"

"Actually, believe it or not, it's a wonderful thing. It's a fantastic thing. That thing that you killed wasn't a man, he was an evil, evil creature, and he deserved just what he got, probably more than what he got, actually. And now he can't come after you, or anyone else, ever again. You did a very, very good thing, even if it doesn't seem like it right now."

Abby nodded, and sighed.

Understanding the nod to mean more than just simple agreement, Parker asked, "Okay... what else?"

"Just... this is a lot to get used to all at once, you know?" said Abby. She looked up at Parker and sighed.

"I know," said Parker. "It gets easier, though. Trust me, it does. It can even be kinda fun sometimes."

"Sure," Abby said and nodded. She didn't really look like she believed it. But she did look like she wanted to.

Meanwhile, Paris just stared at the darklighter arrow in the wall and said, "You're going to want to remove that before your roommates get back."

* * *

A flurry of orbs swirled into the living room and vanished from existence to reveal an exhausted witchlighter keeping a distraught-looking Phoenix from collapsing right there on the spot. Gently, he steered her to the couch and sat her down; she didn't seem to notice a single thing going on around her. Her wide eyes passed over Chris multiple times with no reaction. Chris's guess was that the same had been done to her that had happened to him; the stranger's spell caused her to witness events that only occurred in nightmares. Her greatest fears would be revealed. 

"I'll be right back, Bianca," he promised, more to break the deafening silence than anything else. "I'm just going to get you something to drink." After making sure she sat comfortably, he hurried out of the room and into the kitchen.

Bianca's body slumped forward slightly. "You promised," she whispered, terror lacing her voice. "You promised..."

* * *

"You promised you wouldn't hurt him!" Bianca cried in fury, heart screaming as it thudded against her ribcage. 

Without sparing a glance, Wyatt countered, "And you promised you'd turn him – just like I turned you." Fleetingly, his eyes narrowed; but she could barely tell. "Or at least I thought I had."

Ignoring his suspicious statement, she rushed to Chris's side and begged, "Chris, please." A tear slipped down her cheek, and she didn't even bother to brush it away. "I didn't bring you here to die."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," he grunted, forcing his screaming body to sit up and glaring at his brother. Before she could protest, he added, "I think," causing her to feel even _worse_ about the thought of Chris taking on the most powerful being on the face of the earth. Did he honestly believe that would make her feel better? '_I think'_?

Not giving her the opportunity to stop him, Chris jumped to his feet and charged at the blond like a wild beast. Wyatt easily flipped him over onto his back and sent him skidding across the floor. Oh god, she felt sick.

* * *

Suddenly, Bianca's eyes fluttered shut; and her body fell forward from the couch to the floor. A soft moan of pain was all that escaped her lips, and her breathing became frenzied.

* * *

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast," Bianca called, voice quavering as her powers began to weaken. With her hand stuck within Wyatt's back like this, she was powerless. To take his powers she needed to reach into his chest; in this position all she could do was wait for him to overpower her and hope that Chris's plan fell through before that happened. 

Her ears buzzing loudly, she barely heard Chris chant an incantation. Darkness crept over her eyes, but she forced it down. _Not yet,_ she thought grimly:_ not until I know Chris is safe._

Suddenly, Wyatt broke free of her powers. Attempting to duck was futile, and Bianca felt herself being kicked into the air. The moment she was airborne, she knew Wyatt had added his powers to the attack. She could feel it, and she knew she was a goner.

Her last thought before the pain struck was, _I let Chris down…_

She heard a yell, but she couldn't tell who had screamed. In an instant Chris was by her side, but she knew Wyatt was still there somewhere. He wouldn't just leave Chris to run again.

So when he began to mutter incoherently, "Bianca, no, no, no, no," she knew she couldn't let him stay. It was for the greater good – for their own future – for the whole world. He couldn't stay here and watch her die; he had to save himself. That was all that mattered.

"Haven't we been here before?" She almost laughed, but the agony was too intense.

"Maybe we will be again," he murmured through his tears, smiling sadly.

Too weak to speak, she merely whispered, "Maybe."

A breath of torture escaped Chris's lips as he breathed, "No…" When he closed his eyes and rested his forehead to her chest, she pressed the engagement ring into his hand.

Finding strength, she continued, "If you can finish what we started. Hurry. Take the spell so he can't send anyone else back." When he made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't leave her, she added, "_Go,_" sending through that one word a forceful command. She wasn't worth losing his life.

He nodded sharply as if to promise he'd make everything okay again. Then, he was gone; and Bianca welcomed the darkness gratefully.

* * *

Bianca's body slumped to the floor, and her eyes roved wildly beneath their lids. Then, suddenly, they stopped. Her face lost its color, leaving her white as the ghost she was about to become. Blood pooled on the floor beneath her, and she knew she would die in a memory that wasn't even hers.

* * *

_(End.)_

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